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A IVIEinOIR 




ON THE 


HISTORY 


OF THE CELEBRATED TREATY 




iHABE BT fi 


WILLIAM PEIV]^ 




WITH 




^l^3E )jia,©x^ias 


UNDER 


THE ELM TREE AT SHACKAMAXON, 




IN THE YEAR 1682. 




BY PETER S. DU PONCEAU 




ASB 




J. FRANCIS FISHER. 


PRINTED FOR M'CARTY & DAVIS, — NO. 171, MARKET STREET. 




PHILADELPHIA: 




1836. 



A ]fIE]!IOIR 

ON THE 

HISTORY OF THE CELEBRATED TREATY 

BIADE BT 

WIL.L.IAM PEBTl^ 

WITH 

UNDER THE ELM TREE AT SHACKAMAXON, 

IN THE YEAR 1682. 



BY PETER S. DU PONCEAU 

AND 

J. FRANCIS FISHER. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PRINTED FOR M'CARTY & DAVIS, NO. 171, MARKET STREET. 

^ 1836. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The authors of this Memoir having been appointed by the 
Council of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, together 
■with their late lamented Vice President, the Honourable 
Roberts Vaux, metnbers of a Committee to report on Mr. 
Watson's communication, entitled, " The Indian Treaty for 
the lands now the site of Philadelphia and the adjacent coun- 
try," and published in this volume ; they were agreeably sur- 
prised, to find in that communication mention made of a con- 
ference held at Conestogo, by Governor Gordon, with the 
Chiefs of several Indian tribes, in the year 1728, in which 
that Governor related to the Indians in nine articles, what he 
called the principal links of the chain, that is to say, the prin- 
cipal covenants of the leagues made with the Indians by Wil- 
liam Penn and his Governors, which they doubted not had 
their origin in the great Treaty ; but as Mr. Watson had only 
briefly given the substance of those articles, the survivors of 
the Committee (Mr. Vaux having died in the interval) re- 
quested him to endeavour to obtain for them, from the mi- 
nutes of the Provincial Council at Harrisburg, a full copy of 
the whole conference, which he was kind enough to do 
through his friend, Mr. Toland, who was then at the seat of 
Government. This copy is now presented, as an appendix 
to the following Memoir. 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

Reflecting on this document, the Committee were induced 
to inquire into the whole history of the great Treaty, which 
they found involved in much doubt and obscurity, principally 
from the want of cotemporary records, in consequence of 
which popular notions have crept in amidst the various tradi- 
tions that have been received from our ancestors, and the 
partial efforts that have been made by curious inquirers to 
remove the doubts, and clear up the obscurity, by means of 
insulated documents which have been discovered from time 
to time, have been attended only with partial success, and 
sometimes have failed of their object, by inducing erroneous 
notions, arising from the misapplication of those documents, 
or false inferences drawn from them. 

The G:)mmittee intended at first to offer the results of their 
investiejation of this subject, in the form of a report on Mr. 
Watson's communication ; but new difficulties arising, and 
new questions presenting themselves as they advanced in their 
researches, they determined to take up the matter ab ovo, and 
to discuss it in the form of a Memoir or dissertation, which 
they now present, and in which they have proceeded by col- 
lecting all the evidences and testimonies that they could find 
relating to {he subject ; comparing the various relations and 
opinions of historians and other writers, and from the whole 
eliciting as much light as it has been in their power to throw 
upon this important transaction, which, to Pennsylvania and 
her illustrious Founder, is a crown of glory that will last to 
the end of time. 



MEMOIR. 



The fame of the treaty under the Elm free, or as it is 
called, the Great Treaty, is coextensive with the civilized 
world. So early as the middle of the Eighteenth Century, 
M. de Voltaire spoke of it as an historical fact, well known 
at that time. " William Penn," says he, " began with making 
a league with the Americans, his neighbours. It is the only 
treaty between those nations and the Christians which was 
never sworn to and never broken."* Other European wri- 
ters have spoken of it, in terms of unqualified praise, to the 
honour of our illustrious Founder, and of the colonv which 
he governed. 

Is it not astonishing then, that a transaction which does so 
much honour to our country, should rest among us on vague 
and obscure traditions, and shotdd not be known in all its in- 
teresting details ? The earlier records of the colony give us no 
information whatever upon the subject. The minutes of Coun- 
cil which have come down to us, begin only with the 10th of 
March, 1(583, and it is admitted on all hands that the great 
Treaty took place in the preceding year. The records of the 
proceedings of the Legislature begin at an earlier date, but 
it is not there that we should expect to find traces of an act 

• Dictionnaire Philosophiqiie, verbo Quaker. 



6 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PKNN'S 

which peculiarly belongs to the executive power. The let- 
ters of William Penn, as far as they have come to our know- 
ledge, speak of treaties with the Indians, but in general terms ; 
and no where in that correspondence is that celebrated Trea- 
ty particularly mentioned. Yet no one can doubt of its having 
taken place. The tradition on which it at present rests, may 
be sufficient for the vulgar, but men of enlightened minds will 
look beyond that, and will wish to satisfy themselves by more 
tangible evidence. With a view to obtain this, we have 
searched all the ancient records that have come within our 
reach ; we have collected facts and dates, and have applied 
the torch of criticism to all the evidences that we have been 
able to collect respecting this interesting point of our history. 
We now respectfully submit the results of our inquiries, at the 
same time holding up to view the steps by which we have 
been led to our conclusions. 

We must observe in the first place that it is not on this 
treaty that depends the fame of our illustrious founder, nor 
is it on his having purchased his lands of the Indians, instead 
of taking them by force. Others, before him, had made 
treaties of friendship and of alliance with the original pos- 
sessors of the American soil; others, had obtained their lands 
from them by fair purchase; in Pennsylvania the Swedes, 
the Dutch and the English who governed the country during 
the space of eighteen years under the Duke of York, had 
pursued the same peaceable system ; it is, therefore, not only 
unjust, but it is extremely injudicious, to endeavour to as- 
cribe to William Penn the exclusive merit of a conduct 
pointed out, not only by the plainest rules of justice and the 
example of his predecessors, but also by prudence and the 
soundest policy, particularly when it is considered how much 
easier and cheaper it was to purchase the lands of those sa- 
vage tribes, than to attempt to take them by force, which 
;in the infancy of colonies, would not have been found an 
easy task. When the European writers praised William 



TRKATY With the INDIANS. 7 

Penn so highly for having purchased his lands of the Indians, 
they meant to place his conduct in opposition to that of Pi- 
zarro and Cortez, and although they attributed to Penn alone 
a merit to which he was not exclusively entitled, they could 
not have chosen a fitter personage to make the strongest 
contrast with those destroyers of their fellow-men. 

The true merit of William Penn, that in which he sur- 
passes all the founders of empires whose names are recorded 
in ancient and modern history, is not in having made treaties 
with or purchased lands of the Indians, but in the honesty, 
the integrity, the strict justice with which he constantly 
treated the Aborigines of the land ; in the fairness of all his 
dealings with them, in his faithful observance of his promises; 
in the ascendency which he acquired over their untutored 
minds ; in the feelings of gratitude with which his conduct 
and his character inspired them, and which they, through 
successive generations until their final disappearance from 
our soil, never could nor did forget, and to the last moment 
kept alive in their memories. 

Let us be permitted to quote here what is related to us 
by an eye witness, a man worthy of the most unqualified 
credit in what he says of his own knowledge; we mean the 
venerable Heckewelder, who thus expresses himself in his 
history of the Indian nations who inhabited Pennsylvania 
and the neighbouring states.* 

After speaking of the aversion of the Indians to holding 
treaties elsewhere than in the open air, he proceeds to relate 
what they told him of the conduct of William Penn in that 
respect, and to show by a striking example the veneration in 
which his memory was held among them through successive 
generations. " William Penn," said they, " when he treated 
with them, adopted the ancient mode of their ancestors, and 
convened them under a grove of shady trees, where the little 

• Hist. Trans. A. P, S. p. 176, 



8 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

birds on their boughs, were warbling their sweet notes. In com- 
memoration of these conferences," continues the historian, 
("which are always to the Indians a subject of pleasing remem- 
brance,) they frequently assembled together in the woods, in 
some shady spot, as nearly as possible similar to those where 
they used to meet their brother Miquon, and there lay all his 
words or speeches with those of his descendants on a blanket 
or clean piece of bark, and with great satisfaction go succes- 
sively over the whole. This practice, ivhich I have repeatedly 
wiitiessed, continued until the year 1780, when the disturbances 
which then took place put an end to it, probably for ever." 

Thus we find that the lapse of one hundred years had not 
obliterated in the minds of the Indians, the tender feelings 
which the kindness and upright conduct of their brother 
Miquon, (so the Delawares called William Penn,) and no 
doubt, in the dreary solitudes beyond the Mississippi, to which 
their miserable remnants have been driven by a policy to 
which history will give its true name, those poor exiles 
from the land of their ancestors still teach their children 
to lisp the name of their friend Miquoii, with far different 
feelings from those with which they refer to names of more 
modern date. 

Those grateful Indians, says Heckewelder, laid all the 
Tcords (so they called the speeches) of William Penn, on a 
blanket or clean piece of bark, and with great satisfaction 
went successively over the whole. Perhaps it will be asked 
how they could do that, who were entirely ignorant of the 
art of writing ? They had in their strings and belts of wam- 
pum an artificial memory, not unlike the Quipos of the Pe- 
ruvians,* by means of which, with the aid of tradition, fre- 

• Ghesaont, an Indian chief, addressing Governor Keith, in his speech at 
the treaty held at Conestogoe, on the 5tii of July 1721, says : Though the 
Indians cannot write, yet they retain every thing said in their councils, with 
all the nations they treat with, and preserve it carefully in their memories, 
as if it was committed, in your method, to writing. 2 Proud, 132. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. » 

quently repeated from one to the other, they could remember 
the speeches made to them and their own in due succession. 
If they did not recollect the very words, they remembered 
the substance, and thus in their subsequent speeches to the 
successive Governors of Pennsylvania, we find them repeat- 
ing what had been told them on former occasions, and fre- 
quently referring to the promises made to them by their good 
friend Oiias* which they always delighted to commemorate 
when speaking to his successors. 

Of these treaties of friendship it appears that several took 
place between William Penn and the different tribes of In- 
dians. Those treaties were held in the form of conferences, 
in which every thing was transacted by means of speeches 
on both sides. It must not, therefore, be imagined, that those 
treaties or leagues as William Penn calls them, were en- 
grossed on parchment and signed by all the parties; all that 
took place on those occasions was, indeed, recorded, by the 
Christians in their books of minutes, by the Indians after their 
own manner, which we have before explained. There is every 
reason to believe that the treaty or conference under the elm 
tree was recorded l)y the whites, and it is certain that the 
memory of it was preserved by the Indians. Had it been 
written on a roll of parchment and delivered to them, as 
is said by Clarkson, that parchment would have been kept 
by them with care, or we should have heard, through them, 
at least of its former existence. The counterpart would 
have been preserved in the archives of the colony, and me- 
morials of it would be found elsewhere than in the descrip- 
tions of enthusiastic writers, who either had not the means 

* Tlie name of Onas was given to William Penn by the Iroquois, whom 
the propvielury and generally the English colonial governments supported 
in their claims of superiority over the other Indian tribes ; it seems that the 
Delavi^ares adopted that name at least in their public speeches ; among 
themselves, they called him, in their own language, Miquon, Both these 
words signify a quill, ov pen. 

2 



10 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

or the inclination to enter into a critical examination of the 
subject. 

That this treaty was held at Shackamaxon, under the ce- 
lebrated Elm Tree, shortly after the arrival of William Penn 
in 1682, we think that the least doubt cannot at present be 
entertained. The testimony of all the historians concur with 
uninterrupted tradition in establishing these facts. As to the 
locality, the veneration with which, the celebrated Elm Tree 
has been regarded from time immemorial attests it, in our 
opinion, with sufficient certainty. The venerable Richard 
Peters who not long since died at a very advanced age, and 
his friend Mr. David H. Conyngham still living, both have 
affirmed that in their early youth, sixty or seventy years 
ago, the fact of the first treaty having been held under the 
Elm Tree, which, was destroyed by a storm in 1810 was 
universally admitted, and that Benjamin Lay, who came to 
Pennsylvania at the age of fifty-four years, in the year 1731, 
only half a century after the arrival of the founder, showed 
his veneration for it by paying it frequent visits.* These 
testimonies are sufficient to establish this fact beyond the 
possibility of controversy. 

Thus much we think we can assert without the fear of 
contradiction ; we even believe and there is some evidence 
Id prove that Shackamaxon and the Elm Tree, before the 
arrival of William Penn, were the scene of a former treaty 
made with the Indians by Markham and the commissioners 
associated with him, which was afterwards confirmed by 
the Proprietary on the same spot. If it be so, it adds to 
the solemnity of the act, and the sacredness of the ground. 

With these preliminary observations, w^e shall now pursue 
our subject historically, and endeavour to show by means of 
the evidence within our reach, the nature and objects of the 
great treaty, and the stipulations it contained ; we shall try to 

* Memoirs Hist. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 93. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 11 

ascertain its date, and to bring to view, as far as will be in 
our power, all the material circumstances connected with it. 
Various opinions have hitherto prevailed which require to be 
carefully examined. The most general is that which con- 
nects this treaty with the purchase of lands. We shall con- 
sider how far that opinion is founded, and upon the whole, 
we shall do all that we can to elucidate a subject that has 
been too long involved in obscurity and doubt. 

In the tirst place we must let William Penn speak for him- 
self; his testimony is the best that we can adduce on the oc- 
casion. 

The charter by which Pennsylvania was granted to him 
by Charles II., is dated the 4th of March, 1G81. It seems 
that he lost no time in taking measures to secure the posses- 
sion of his colony, and to obtain correct information respect- 
ing it. In May following, he sent his cousin Markham to 
take possession in his name, and to make the necessary pre- 
parations for his reception, when, no doubt, he invested him 
with full powers, and gave him detailed instructions to regu- 
late his conduct. It is much to be regretted that we can find 
no traces of those instructions, nor of the correspondence 
which must have taken place between bim and the Proprie- 
tary, during the space of 17 months that elapsed from the 
time of his departure until the arrival of William Penn. All 
we know is, that he sailed from England in the month of 
May, 1681, and for that fact we are indebted to Chalmers,* 
who, having had access to the public records in London, is 
most to be believed, while the historians. Proud and Clarkson, 
make him sail in company with Penn's commissioners, who 
left England at a later period. Of Markham's doings in Ame- 
rica until William Penn's arrival, we know absolutely nothing, 

* In May, 1681, Penn detached Markliam with a small emigration, i^n or- 
der to take possession of the country, and to prepare it for a more numerous 
colony. — Chalm. 640. 



12 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

except that he purchased from the Indians, for the Proprie- 
tor, an inconi^iderable tract of land, of which we shall speak 
in its place, and began to build on it a dwelling-house, which 
was afterwards called Pennsbury Manor. We have no au- 
thentic evidence of his having done any thing else ; we must 
presume, however, that he acted in concert with the commis- 
sioners who were sent after him, as will be mentioned. As 
to what they did, also, we are entirely in the dark, and left 
to our conjectures. 

It was not until after Markham's departure, that William 
Pcnn made known to the adventurers who were disposed to 
follow his fortunes, the conditions on which he admitted them 
to become purchasers and settlers of his lands in Pennsylva- 
nia. These conditions, or concessions, as they are called, 
bear date the 11th of July, 1G81.* There begins to be de- 
veloped his admirable plan of conduct respecting the In- 
dians, to which he not only bound himself, but all who chose 
to follow him, who were not permitted to come as set- 
tlers to Pennsylvania, unless they subscribed to those condi- 
tions, to which it appears they uniformly agreed. There is 
not a line in this part of that instrument that does not deserve 
to be specially recorded ; therefore we transcribe it at full 
length. 

XL There shall be no buying and selling, be it with an In- 
dia7i, or one among another, of any goods to be exported, but 
what shall be performed in public market, when such ])laces 
shall be set apart, or erected, where they shall pass the pub- 
lic stamp, or mark. If bad ware, and prized as good, or de- 
ceitful in proportion or weight, to forfeit the value, as if good 
and full weight and proportion, to the public treasury of this 
province, whether it be the merchandise of the Indian, or that 
of the planters. 

XII. And forasmuch, as it is usual with the planters to 

* 2d Proud, Append., No. 1. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 13 

overreach the poor natives of the country, in trade, by goods 
not being good of the kind, or debased with mixtures, with 
which tliey are sensibly aggrieved, it is agreed, whatever is 
sold to the Indians, in consideration of their furs, shall be sold 
in the market-place, and there sutler the test, whether e;ood 
or bad ; if good, to pass ; if not good, not to be sold for good, 
that the natives may not be abused, nor provoked. 

XIII. That no man shall, by any ways or means, in word, 
or deed, aflront, or wrong any Indian, but shall incur the 
same penalty of the law, as if he had committed it against 
his fellow planter, and if any Indian shall abuse, in word, or 
deed, any planter of this province, that he shall not be his 
own judge upon the Indians, but he shall make his complaint to 
the Governor of the province, or his lieutenant, or deputy, or 
some inferior magistrate near him, who shall, to the utmost of 
his power, take care with the King of the said Indians that 
all reasonable satisfaction be made to the said injured planter. 

XIV. That all ditTerences, between the planters and the na- 
tives, shall also be ended by tzcelve men, that is, by six plan- 
ters and six natives; that so we may live friendly together 
as much as in us lieth, preventing all occasions of heart-burn- 
ings and mischief. 

XV. That the Indians shall have liberty to do all things re- 
lating to improvement of their ground, and providing suste- 
nance for their families, that any of the planters shall enjoy^ 

This document clearly shows that William Penn's mind 
was bent on doing full justice to the Indians, and seeing it 
done by others, and that he wished to prevent their being 
cheated or overreached in their dealings with the whites, or 
otherwise aggrieved in their persons or their property ; the 
methods that he proposed, however, show that he was then but 
little acquainted with the state of the colony or the character 
of the natives; it was soon found that the sales in market 
overt, the previous inspection of goods oiTered for sale, and, 
above all, the trial by juries de medietate linguce, could not, in, 



14 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

any manner, be carried into execution ; therefore those do not 
appear in the laws enacted after his arrival : it is neverthe- 
less certain that he protected the Indians to the utmost of his 
power, of which their respect for his memory gives sufficient 
evidence. 

About two months after the date of this instrument, Wil- 
liam Penn sent three commissioners to manage his affairs in 
his colony, namely William Crispin, John Bezar, and Natha- 
niel Allen.* None of our historians appear to have been ac- 
quainted with the names or even with the number of these 
commissioners ; they only tell us that he sent his cousin Mark- 
ham to Pennsylvania with certain commissioners, and make 
it appear as if they had sailed together for America, while it 
is now ascertained that Markham departed long before them. 
These facts would have remained in obscurity, but for the 
late discovery of the instructions given by William Penn to 
those commissioners, which have been found among the pa- 
pers of the Hamilton family, and are printed in the second 
volume of our memoirs.! This document is of great im- 
portance to our early history. It is dated the 30th of Sep- 
tember, 1681, and confirms Chalmers' statement of Mark- 
ham's having left England at an earlier period, for in these 
instructions, William Penn speaks of his cousin Markham 
"noto on the spot ;"'l and, what is of much greater conse- 
quence, they give us textually his humane directions respect- 
ing the conduct to be held with the Indians : " Be tender," he 
says, " of offending the Indians — let them know that you are 

• We hear no more of these Commissioners after the arrival of William 
Penn, except John Bezar, who appears to have been twice returned as a 
member of Assembly for Chester county. 

f Part I., pag-e 215. 

t A letter from Wihiam Penn to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, dated 
the 8th of April, 1681, which has lately come to light, and which was sent 
by Markham, strongly corroborates Chalmers' statement of his having sailed 
from England in May following. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 15 

come to sit down lovingly among them. Let my letter and 
conditions with my purchasers about just dealing with them 
be read in their tongue, that they may see we have their good 
in our eye, equal with our own interest; and after reading my 
letter and the said conditions, then present their Kings with 
what I send them, and make a friendship and league with them 
according to tliose conditions, which carefully observe, and 
get them to comply with you ; be grave, they love not to be 
smiled on." 

The letter which William Penn speaks of in the above 
document, is his celebrated letter to the Indians, which is in- 
serted at length in Proud' s History and in Clarkson's Biogra- 
phy.* The original is in the possession of Benjamin Chew, 
Esq., of Germantown. We shall only extract from it what 
relates to our subject. He says to the Indians : " I shall 
shortly come to see you myself, at which time we may more 
largely and freely confer and discourse on these matters. In 
the mean time, 1 have sent my commissioners to treat with 
you about land and a firm league of peace." 

This letter is dated the 18th of October, a little more than 
two weeks aftqr the date of the instructions, which leads us 
to believe that the commissioners did not sail until the latter 
end of that month. They probably took their passage in the 
Bristol Factor, Roger Drew, master, which we are told ar- 
rived at Upland, now Chester, and the river having frozen 
the night that they went on shore, they remained there all 
the winter.t Although this is of no consequence for the ob- 
ject of this Memoir, it may hereafter elucidate some points of 
our history. Dates are never to be neglected. 

The above is all that we find of William Penn prior to his 
coming to America. After his arrival, however, but not be- 
fore the IGth of August, 1G83, he wrote a long and very in- 

* 1 Proud, 195. 1 Clarkson, 227. f 1 Clarkson, 226. 



16 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

teresting letter to the free Society of Traders in England, 
which is recorded at large by Proud and Clarkson.* In that 
letter, in which he gives a minute description of the state of 
his province, as it existed at the time, he says a great deal 
on the subject of the Indians, and undertakes to describe their 
persons, languages, manners, religion, and government. He 
speaks of their councils, and their manner of holding trea- 
ties, and in so doing, he refers particularly to a treaty which 
he himself held with them. We shall extract so much of 
that part of his letter, as is applicable to the subject of this 
memoir. 

" Every king," says he, " has his council, and that consists 
of all the old and wise men of his nation, which, perhaps, is 
two hundred people. Nothing of moment is undertaken, be 
it war, peace, selling of land or trafRck, without advising with 
them, and, which is more, with the young men too. I have 
had occasion to be in council with them, upon treaties for 
land, and to adjust terms of trade."t 

William Penn, then, in order to give an idea of their man- 
ner of proceeding when they held conferences or treaties, 
relates what took place at a treaty which he made with them 
for the purchase of land. After describing the order of sit- 
ting and speaking, and all the usual ceremonies on such occa- 
sions, he proceeds thus : " When the purchase was agreed, 
great promises passed between us, of kindness and good 
neighbourhood, and that the Indians and English must live in 
love as long as the sun gave light." The Indians, of course, 
reciprocated these sentiments, and there the matter ended. 

A question now arises, whether the treaty, the ceremonies 
of which William Penn, in the letter above cited, has so 
graphically described, which description, as not relating to 
our subject, we have not thought necessary to insert here, 

• 1 Proud, 246. 1 Clarks. 292. 
1 1 Proud, 257. 1 Clarks. 305. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 17 

whether that treaty might not be the one we are inquiring 
of, the celebrated treaty under the Ehn tree ? There is no- 
thing in the letter to make us incline to that opinion. It 
must be recollected that it was written nearly ten months af- 
ter Penn's arrival, and in that interval of time he tells us him- 
self that he had more than once met their kings in council, 
upon treaties for land and to adjust terms of trade. It is to 
be observed that he here discriminates between these two 
kinds of treaties. By " adjusting terms of trade," he un- 
doubtedly meant settling the intercourse between the In- 
dians and the whites, and establishing it on the footing of 
friendship and good neighbourhood. This is what we con- 
ceive the treaty under the Elm tree to have been. The one 
of which he speaks in his letter to the free traders, appears 
to have been a negotiation for the purchase of land, and for 
no other purpose. The mutual promises and expressions of 
kindness with which the meeting concluded, appear to have 
been a kind of protocol used on all similar occasions, as may 
be found in many of the modern treaties, in Europe as well 
as in this country. 

Previous to the writing of this letter, and in the same year, 
two considerable purchases of land were made by William 
Penn from the natives, the deeds of conveyance of which are 
on record.* The first, dated June 23d, 1683, conveys to 
him and his heirs the land lying between the Neshaminy and 
Pennypack Creek ; the other, which bears date of the 14th 
of July following, is for lands lying between the Schuylkill 
and Chester river. It is probably to one of those treaties 
that he alluded in the letter above mentioned. When we 
come to inquire into the stipulations of the great treaty, we 
hope to be able to show that it cannot be that to which Wil- 
liam Penn in this letter had reference. 

It may be asked, perhaps, how it came to pass that Wil- 

* 2 Smith's Laws of Pennsylvania, 110. 
3 



IS MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PEXn's 

liam Penn in his letters, never made mention of this great, 
this famous, this celebrated treaty, which has already em- 
ployed the j)en of the historian and the pencil of the painter, 
and is destined to give birth to numei'ous productions in after 
ages, in verse and in prose ? To this we have to answer, that 
we are not in possession of all the letters of our great foun- 
der, and that we are particularly delicient in those of the 
year in which the treaty was made. We may add also tha:l; 
he considered this treaty as a matter of course, and that he 
could not foresee the fame that it would acquire in future 
times, much less that the sacred Elm tree under which it 
was made would be held up to the veneration of posterity ; 
and if he had foreseen all these things, the modesty which is 
known to have been one of his characteristics, would have 
prevented him from being the first to proclaim it to the world. 
But we know that that treaty was in his contemplation be- 
fore he sailed for America — that he ordered his Commis- 
sioners to make a league of friendship with the Indians, and 
wrote to the latter to inform them of the fact and prepare 
them for it ; and notwithstanding the obscurity which still 
rests upon this important transaction, there is every reason 
to believe that it did take place, and that a treaty of lasting 
peace and friendship was made by William Penn with the 
Indians, in the year 1682, at Shackamaxon, under the Elm 
tree, the memory of which will remain as long as Pennsyl- 
vania shall exist, and while Ijer name and that of her pa- 
triarch shall be held in remembrance. 

We shall next proceed to show what the historians have 
said on the subject of this treaty. 

The first is Mr. Oldmixon, who wrote a book in two vo- 
lumes, entitled " The British Empire in America."* This 
book was printed at London in the year 1708, al)out twenty- 
five years after the first arrival of William Penn in this 

* This book is in the Piiiladelphia Library. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 19 

country. It contains an account of all the British colonies 
then existing on the American continent and in the West In- 
dies. In his description of Pennsylvania he frequently refers 
to conversations that he had with William Penn, with whom 
he was personally acquainted. Like all the other historians, 
he relates that the proprietary, upon his arrival in his colony, 
entered into treaties with the Indians to buy lands.*- Af- 
terwards, however, speaking of Penn's removal to Eng- 
land, in 1684, he particularly mentions the treaties of friend- 
ship that he made with the aborigines. " Mr. Penn," says 
he,-|- "stayed in Pennsylvania two years, and having made a 
league of amity with nineteen Indian nations, established good 
laws, and seen his capital so well inhabited, that there were 
then near 300 houses and 2500 souls in it, besides 20 other 
townships, he returned to England, leaving William Mark- 
ham, Esq. his Secretary, Mr. Thomas Holmes, Surveyor 
General, and the administration in the hands of the Council, 
whose President was Thomas Lloyd, Esq." &c. 

In another part, speaking of the Indians in Pennsylvania, 
he says something, which, though it does not relate imme- 
diately to our subject, we cannot forbear transcribing. — 
" They," says he, " have been very civil and friendly to the 
English, who never lost man, woman, or child by them,J 
which neither the colony of Maryland nor that of Virginia 
can say, no more than the great colony of New England. 
This friendship and civility of the Pennsylvania Indians are 
imputed to Mr. Penn, the Proprietary's extreme humanity 

* 1 Oldmix. 167. f Ibid. p. 171. 

:i: The first Indian who was killed in Pennsylvania by a white man, was 
murdered with circumstances of great cruelty by one Cartlidg-e. He was 
arrested and going- to be tried; but the Indians interceded for him and he 
was pardoned. This happened in 1721, forty years after William Penn be- 
came proprietor of Pennsylvania, and three years after his spirit had fled to a 
better world. Gordon, 188. 



20 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENn's 

and bounty to them, he having laid out some thousands of 
pounds to instruct, support, and oblige them."* 

Thus we have the testimony of a cotemporary of William 
Penn, and of one who had the advantage of conversing with 
him, to prove that during his first visit to this country, he 
made a league of amity with nineteen Indian nations. This 
number of nations may appear exaggerated, but we must 
consider that every Indian village formed an Indian tribe, 
and in that sense we must consider the word ?uilio7i, as em- 
ployed by this writer. There were not in Pennsylvania at 
that time nineteen ?iatiofis, properly so called. But that is 
of little consequence; it is enough for us that he made a 
league of amity with those Indians contradistinguished from 
his purchases of land. It seems to be generally believed, 
that that league was made with all of them together con- 
vened on the same spot. We do not concur in that opinion. 
We believe, as we have already said, that there were seve- 
ral treaties of the same kind between William Penn and the 
Indians. The one held at Shackamaxon was probably the 
most numerously attended. 

The next historian that we shall refer to is Mr. Proud, whose 
history of Pennsylvania appeared in the year 1797, posterior to 
our Revolution. His notions of the great treaty appear to have 
been very vague: they rested on traditions which became 
more and more obscure, as generations passed away, and he 
does not seem to have taken much pains to come at the par- 
ticulars of that transaction, which, at that time, had not ac- 
quired the importance that it has obtained since. He does 
not say a word about Shackamaxon or the Elm tree, although 
we have shown that it was held in great veneration at the 
time when he wrote. Indeed, Mr. Proud has been, not un- 
justly, reproached for having neglected the earlier part of 

• Ibid, 164. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 21 

our history, and having more attended to that of subsequent 
times. Be that as it may, we shall pi'oceed to state what 
he relates. 

Having brought his narrative to the last month (February) 
of the year 1682, according to the old style, he continues 
thus : " The Proprietary, being now returned from Maryland 
to Coaquannock, the place so called by the Indians, where 
Philadelphia now stands, began to purchase lands of the In- 
dians, whom he treated with justice and kindness," &c.* 

On referring to authentic records, we do not find that 
William Penn began to purchase lands of the Indians until 
six or seven months after his arrival. The first account that 
we have of such transactions, is in his letter to the Lords of 
Plantations, dated the 14th of August, 1683. In that letter 
he says, that in the month of May, Lord Baltimore sent three 
gentlemen to invite him to a meeting at the head of the Chesa- 
peake, but, says he, " I was then in treaty with the kings of 
the natives for land." Three days afterward, however, he 
met Lord Baltimore ten miles from New Castle.f What be- 
came of that negotiation we do not know, but we presume it 
was for the lands between the Neshaminy and the Penny- 
pack, for which he received a deed from the Indians, dated 
the 23d of June follovving.j which is the first that we find on 
record, except that for the purchase made by Markham, be- 
fore the proprietor's arrival. 

Mr. Proud, however, although he begins with mentioning 
the purchases of land made by William Penn, does not seem 
to confound them with the great treaty, for, after having 
spoken of these, in a subsequent paragraph he thns proceeds : 

"It was at this time (1682,) when he, (William Penn) 
first entered personally^ into that lasting friendship with the 

•1 Proud, 211. t Ibid. 271. 

+ 2 Smith's Laws, 110. 

§ Here Mr. Proud seems to allude to a previous treaty with Markham aiid 
the Commissioners. 



22 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENn's 

Indians, which ever after continued between them. 

A Jinn peace was thereupon concluded between Wilham 
Penn and the Indians, and both parties mutually promised to 
live together as brethren, without doing the least injury to 
each other. This treaty was solemnly ratified by the usual 
token of a chain of friendship, a covenant indehble, never to 
be broken as long as the sun and moon endure."* The words 
" at this time,'' which this author makes use of, in speaking 
of the epoch of the great treaty, might, if they stood alone, 
be understood to refer to the time when William Penn, after 
his arrival, made his lirst purchase of land of the Indians, and 
that he meant to connect with it the treaty of amity and 
friendship, and intimate that both were made at the same 
time; but by adding afterwards, between parentheses, (1682) 
he shows that he has only reference to the year and not to 
the purchase, which, in fact, as we have already said, did not 
take place until the year following. 

It appears, that Mr. Proud had a correct general idea of 
the stipulations of this treaty. It is to be regretted that he 
did not enter into more particulars ; but the co-temporary 
witnesses had died at the time when he wrote, which was 
during the American revolution, and he did not, probably, 
think that these particulars would be so much sought after 
by posterity. We, who believ^e that they will be still much 
more interesting to our descendants than they are to the pre- 
sent generation, conceive it to be our duty to throw as much 
light upon the subject, as our means of information permit 
us to do. 

The next author we shall refer to, is Mr. Clarkson, the 
Biographer of William Penn. That gentleman is still living 
in £ngland,f and may he continue to live many years longer. 
One of us has had the pleasure of his personal acquaint- 

* 1 Proud, 212. 
t At Clayford-Hall in the county of Suffolk. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 23 

ance, and both admire his untiring zeal in the cause of hu- 
manity. He is a true friend to Pennsylvania, and has raised 
a lasting monument to the fame of her illustrious founder. 
As relates to the particular subject of our inquiry, it is to be 
regretted that this benevolent author never was in this coun- 
try, and had not, therefore, the means of information which 
were within the reach of Mr. Proud, and of which the his- 
torian of Pennsylvania did not make sulficient use. We make 
no doubt that Mr. Clarkson, had he been in his place, would 
have given us a more correct account of the great treaty, 
than that which, indeed, adorns his pages, but does not ap- 
pear to us to be consistent with the facts as we believe them 
to have really happened. As he is a lover of truth as much 
as we are, we make no doubt that he will regard with in- 
dulgence the criticism that we are about to make of his re- 
lation of that important event. 

Mr. Clarkson very justly regrets, that while we have 
accounts of minor treaties between William Penn and the 
Indians, he can find in no historian an account of this, though 
so many mention it, and though all concur in considering it 
as the most glorious in the annals of the world.* But he con- 
soles himself with remarking that there are relations in Indian 
speeches, and traditions in Quaker families descended from 
those who were present on the occasion, from which, we 
may learn something concerning it. Those traditions have 
not taught us much, and Indian speeches, as we shall pre- 
sently show, are not always to be relied on. Mr. Clarkson 
has told J. Francis Fisher, that he was indebted for his infor- 
mation on the subject of this treaty to our celebrated painter 
Benjamin West, who, we are sure, told him nothing else than 
what he himself believed. But Mr. West left this country 
at an age when young men arc not apt to make profound in- 
quiries into historical facts. In 17G0, when he went to Italy, 

» 1 Clarkson, 264. 



24 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

those who in 1682 were of an age to observe passing events 
had disappeared from the scene, and he can have had but 
a general traditional knowledge of the great treaty, which, 
without the least imputation to his veracity, we suspect his 
enthusiastic imagination did not contribute a little to embel- 
lish ; for, to be candid, the description given us by Mr. Clark- 
son of this treaty, and which, as to externals, agrees with 
Mr. West's picture, appears to us to savour something more 
of the brush of the painter than of the pen of the historian. 
For instance, when the estimable author says, that Wil- 
liam Penn went from Chester to Coaquannock, a distance of 
fifteen miles, accompanied by his friends, consisting of men, 
women and young persons of both sexes, where they met 
armed Indians, so numerous that they were seen in the woods 
as far as the eye could carry, and looked frightful, both on 
account of their number and their arms, we cannot give 
credit to this relation, from whatever source the author may 
have received it. We know that the Indians never carry 
arms when they go to make treaties, even with their enemies, 
but on the contrary, says Heckew^elder, " they do not even 
permit any warlike weapon to remain within the limits of 
their council fire, when assembled about the ordinary bu- 
siness of their government. It might, they say, have a bad 
effect, and defeat the object for which they had met."* It is 
probable that neither Mr. West nor Mr. Clarkson had been in- 
formed of this characteristic trait of the Indian nations. It must 
be also observed that when William Penn first came to Penn- 
sylvania, it was not a newly discovered country ; the banks 
of the Delaware had been settled on by Europeans for more 
than forty years, and treaties had repeatedly been made be- 
fore that time with the Indian inhabitants by the Swedes, the 
Dutch and the English. W^e have an account given us by 
Campanius, of a treaty made with them in 1654 by the 

* Hist. Trans. A. P. S. 176. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 25 

Swedish Governor Rising, the stipulations of which appear 
pretty much the same as those of the great treaty.* Besides, 
Markham,as we believe, had already treated with them, and 
prepared them for the arrival of William Penn, and as Mr. 
Clarkson himself says, it was to co/tjirm a former treaty, that 
the Christians and the Indians were now assembled ; and be- 
fore William Penn arrived, the Quakers at Burlington had 
made a treaty of amity and friendship with the Indians.t 
Therefore there could be no danger whatever in meeting 
them on that occasion, and William Penn and his friends 
who were present, are in no need of praise for the courage 
which they exhibited. 

Far be it from us to wish to detract in the least from the 
fame of that great man. We too wish to exalt his name 
and give to his illustrious character the due meed of praise. 
But we will do so by confining ourselves strictly to the truth 
which he loved, and which during the whole of his long and 
honourable life he was never known to violate. 

The great error of Mr. Clarkson, is to have ill chosen the 
subjects of the praise which he justly bestowed on his hero» 
He was misled by Voltaire and Raynal, whom he quotes with 
great complacency, and who placed the greatness of William 
Penn in not having imitated Cortez and Pizarro; in having 
purchased his lands of the Indians, and having softened those 
savages, whom their superficial J notions made them believe to 
have stood ready on the shores of the Delaware to devour him 
and his followers. This may sound very well in a romance, 
but history is bound to adhere to the truth, and rejects with 
disdain all traditions that are found to be inconsistent with it. 

* Campaniiis, in 3 Memoirs Hist. Soc. Penn. p. 76. 

f Good order established in Pennsylvania, by T. Budd, London, 1684. [In 
the Friends library at Philadelphia.] 

i So little did M. de Voltaire know respecting this country, that in the ar- 
ticle already quoted, he places Pennsylvania to the south of Maryland. How 
aptly we mig-ht quote here the words of M. de Voltaire himself. Et voila 
justement comme on ecrit I'histoirc' 

4 



26 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PJENn's 

It is in consequence of the false light derived from the 
writings of these foreign authors, that Mr. Clarkson has con- 
nected the great Treaty with the purchase of lands, what no 
English or American historian had done before him. Hence 
the great roll of parchment, the payment made in goods to 
the Indians, all which, in our opinion, detracts a great deal 
from the solemnity and dignity of the scene. 

We must do Mr. Clarkson, however, the justice to say, that 
what he relates of the speech of William Penn, on that oc- 
casion, appears to us conformable to the best traditions, and 
to agree, in substance, with the information that we have 
been able to collect elsewhere, from various sources. We 
are also indebted to him for the interesting circumstance of 
the blue sash worn by the Proprietor, and now in the posses- 
sion of Thomas Kett, Esq., of Seething Hall, near Norwich, 
England. It is much to be wished that this valuable relic 
were deposited in the cabinet of some public institution in this 
country, where it would be safe from the dangers attending 
its possession by a private individual, whose successors in af- 
ter times may not be impressed with the feelings of its pre- 
sent worthy possessor. 

We have said before that Indian speeches were not always 
to be relied on as evidence of the facts which they contain. 
We are now going to speak of one of those documents which 
has not a little contrihuted to the confusion of ideas which 
has hitherto prevailed respecting the great Treaty, and 
which, no doubt, confirmed Mr. Clarkson in his opinion that 
that treaty was connected with a land purchase. We hope 
to show, that the ideas of the Indian who made that speech 
were not less confused, than those which it was the cause of 
spreading through the country and through the world. But 
before we proceed to its examination, it is necessary that we 
should state a few preliminary facts. 

At the time of the arrival of William Penn, and probably 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 27 

long before, the valley of the Susquehannah, on the southern 
frontier of this Commonwealth, was inhabited by a tribe of 
Indians of the Iroquois stock.* They were called by the 
Dutch Maqiias, by the Swedes M'mques, by the EngHsh M'm- 
goes, and by the Delaware Indians Mefigzves. They were set- 
tled there so early as the time of the Swedes. It will be re- 
collected that a part, if not the whole of the Territory which 
they inhabited, was claimed by Lord Baltimore, as being 
within the limits of his province of Maryland. It appears, 
also, that some of the Delaware tribes, who possessed the 
banks of the Delaware and the eastern part of Pennsylvania, 
were settled among them, or in their neighbourhood. Whe- 
ther it was in consequence of some differences between those 
tribes, who are known not to have liked each other, or of 
some persecutions from the agents of Lord Baltimore, it is 
almost reduced to a certainty that as soon as they heard of 
the arrival of the commissioners of the new Proprietor, Wil- 
liam Penn, they sent a deputation to them and solicited their 
protection, which was granted. Of the treaty which took 
place, on that occasion, no trace whatever remains other than 
a vague tradition ; but there can be no doubt that that was 
the treaty which, according to all the historians, was co7iJirmed 
by William Penn under the great Tree, to which these Sus- 
quehannah Indians were parties with the other tribes assem- 
bled on the occasion. 

Afterwards, in 1G98, in the interval between William Penn's 
first and second visit to Pennsylvania, about sixty families of 
Shawanese or southern Indians, from what cause is immate- 
rial, came to settle at Conestogo, among those who were al- 

* There can be no doubt that those Indians were Iroquois. Dr. Franklin, 
in his Narrative of the Massacre of the Conestog-o Indians, in December, 1763, 
tells us expressly that they were a tribe of the Six Nations. And what is 
still stronger evidence, Cainpanius gives us a vocabulary of their language, 
which shows it clearly to be an Iroquois dialect. See Mr. Du Ponceau's 
translation of his Description of New Sweden, in 3 Mem. Hist. Soc, page 
158. 



28 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

ready established there. These applied to the Proprietary 
government for permission to admit the new comers, offering 
to become answerable for their good behaviour ; but the Pro- 
prietary arriving soon afterwards, the Chiefs of the Shawanese 
and Susquehannah Indians came to the city, and renewing their 
application, the Proprietary agreed to their settlement there, 
whereupon the Shawanese came under the protection of the 
Government.* 

Mr. Redmond Conyngham, in his valuable notes on our 
early history, published in the 15th volume of Hazard's Penn- 
sylvania Register,! conceives there is an error in the Report 
made to the Assembly in 175.5, from which we have extract- 
ed the above. He thinks that the date of the coming of the 
Shawanese, and the first application of the Susquehannah In- 
dians, should be 1678 and not 1G98, as the report states. His 
object is evidently «4o connect that circumstance with the 
great Treaty. But that can be done without altering dates. 
The report states, that on the arrival of the Shawanese, the 
Susquehannah Indians applied to this governmenl, praying that 
the former might be permitted to settle in their neighbour- 
hood. Now this government must mean the Proprietary Go- 
vernment, and that did not exist in 1678. At that time the 
government of the country on the Delaware, was adminis- 
tered by an ollicer, called the Commander, and magistrates, 
who had no authority but to keep the peace, and settle pri- 
vate differences; the real government was at New York, and 
it is there that those Indians should have preferred their pe- 
tition. Therefore the first application made by those Indians 
for protection to the Pennsylvania authorities, must hare been 
to Markham and the Commissioners, in 1682, who, there is 
every reason to believe, made a treaty with them which was 
isifterwards in the same vear, confirmed bv William Penn him- 



* 4 Votes of Assembly of Pennsylvania, 517. 
fPag-esSO, 81, 117, 1:18, 180. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 29 

self at Shackamaxon. During his absence, afterwards, it 
seems that fresh difficulties arose, on which they applied to 
the Proprietary Government, and those difficulties were set- 
tled by a new treaty, which William Pcnn made with them, 
as Dr. Franklin informs us, in 1701.* Thus every thing is 
reconciled, and additional light is thrown on the history of the 
Treaty under the Elm Tree. 

Having premised thus much, we shall proceed to examine 
the Indian speech which we have above mentioned. We 
find it in a well known pamphlet published at London during 
the French war, in 1759, the author of which is Charles 
Thomson, who was Secretary to Congress during the war of 
the Revolution. It is entitled " An inquiry into the causes of 
the alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians from 
the British interest." We must acknowledge that the minutes 
of Council at Harrisburg, for the years 1721 and 1722, have 
been searched in vain for the treaty or conference related by 
Mr. Thomson, and the speech of Civility which it contains. 
Mr. Thomson's character for truth and integrity is, however, 
too well known, and generally acknowledged, that we doubt 
not he obtained the whole from some authentic source. It 
is certain that it has been generally credited, and is, in a 
great measure, the cause of the confusion that has taken 
place on the subject of the great Treaty. Mr. Thomson re- 
lates this conference as follows : 

" Governor Keith having, in 1722, received advice that some 
persons, under pretence of searching for copper mine?, in- 
tended to take up lands, by virtue of Marylniul rights on the 



* Dr. Franklin, in his Narrative above cited, speaking of the partial mur- 
der of tiie Indians at Conestog-o, vvhicli preceded the great massacre in the 
jail at Lancaster, and mentioning tiie names of the Indians who were then 
murdered, says: " Of these Shehaes was a very old man, having assisted at 
the 5fco?ic? treaty held with them by "William Penn in 1701." This second 
treaty was the one which followed the application of the Indians in 1698, and 
the first was the great Treaty. 



30 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

west side of the River Susquehannah, above Coneatogo, issued 
a Proclamation to prevent thein. Soon after, having advice 
that some persons were actually gone from J\Iaryla?id to sur- 
vey the lands, he went thither himself with the Surveyor Ge- 
nei'al of the Province, and arriving first, ordered the Survey- 
or General, by virtue of Pi'oprietary rights which he had be- 
fore purchased, to survey for him five hundred and thirty 
acres of land upon that spot which he perceived was like to 
prove a bone of contention and the occasion of mischief. 
Upon his return, being informed that the young men of Co- 
nestogo were going out to W'ar, he thought it necessary to 
hold a conference with those Indians ; and accordingly, going 
to their town, called a meeting of the Chiefs of the Mingoes, 
the Sharvatiese, and the Ganarvay {Co?ioy) Lidia?7s, at which 
he reminded them of the friendship that subsisted between 
them and the government, of the favours he had done them, 
how he had gone to Virgbna to serve them, and at their re- 
quest removed one John Grist from a settlement he had made 
beyond the Susquehannah, and had strictly forbidden any per- 
son whatever from taking up lands or settling there without 
his leave, &c. In the close of his speech, he informed them 
of the news he had heard of their going to war, and absolute- 
ly forbade them to go. 

"Hereupon the Indians called a Council, and having agreed 
upon an answer, met the Governor next day ; and Civility, 
their Chief, having, in the name of the Indians, thanked the 
Governor for the pains he had taken to serve them, and ex- 
pressed the confidence they had in the Government, declaring 
that though their warriors were intended against the Cataw- 
bas, yet as the Governor disapproved of their going to war, 
they should be immediately stopped: After which he proceeded 
to say, ' That when the Proprietor, JVilliam Penn, came into 
this coantry,yb/-/// years ago, he got some person at JVezv York 
to purchase the lands on Susquehafinah from the Five Na- 
tions, who pretended a right to them, having conquered the 



TREATV WITH THE INDIANS. 31 

people formerly settled there : That when William Peiin came 
from JVew York he sent for them to hold a Council with him 
at Philadelphia, and showed them a parchment, which he 
told them was a right to those lands; that he had purchased 
them from the Five Nations, for which he had sent a great 
many goods in a vessel to JVexo York; that when the Cones- 
togoes understood he had bought their land, they were sorry; 
upon which William Pe?m took the parchment and laid it 
upon the ground, saying to them, that it should be in com- 
mon among them, viz. ; the English and the India?is ; that 
when William Penn had after that manner given them the 
same privilege to the land as his own people, he told them he 
would not do as the Marylanders did, by calling them children 
or brothers only ; for often parents would be apt to whip 
their children too severely, and brothers sometimes would 
differ ; neither would he compare the friendship between him 
and the Susqiiehatmah India?is to a chain, for the rain might 
sometimes rust it, or a tree fall and break it ; but he said the 
Indians should be esteemed by him as his people, as the same 
flesh and blood with the Christians, and the same as if one 
man's body was to be divided in two parts.' After they had 
made so firm a league with William Penn, he gave them that 
parchment, (here Civility held a parchment in his hand) and 
told them to preserve it carefully for three generations, that 
their children might see and know what then passed in Coun- 
cil, as if he remained himself with them to repeat it, but that 
the fourth generation would both forget him and it. 

" Civility presented to the Governor the parchment in his 
hand, to read ; it contained articles of friendship and agree- 
ment made between the Proprietary and them, and con- 
firmed the sale of lands made by the Five Nations to the Pro- 
prietary." 

The Governor's answer to this is as follows : 
" I am very glad to find that you remember so perfectly 
the wise and kind expressions of the great and good William 



32 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

Pen7i towards you ; and I know that the purchase which he 
made, of the lands on both sides of the Susquehannah, is ex- 
actly true as you tell it; only I have heard farther, that when 
he was so good to tell your people that, notwithstanding that 
purchase, the lands should still be in common between his 
people and them, you answered, that a very little land would 
serve you, and thereupon you fully confirmed his right by 
your own consent and good will, as the parchment you showed 
me fully declares." 

The remainder of these proceedings has no relation what- 
ever to the object of this Memoir. 

In the same pamphlet Mr. Thomson relates that at a treaty 
held at Philadelphia in 1727, between Governor Gordon and 
the deputies of the Five Nations, the Indian speaker Tamie- 
whannegah informed the Governor, •' that the first Governor 
of this place. Onus (William Penn) when he first arrived here 
sent to desire them to sell lands to him ;* that they an- 
swered they would not sell it now, but they might do it in 
time to come ; * * * * that when the Governort was at 
Albany, he had spoken to them to this purpose : well, my 
brethren, you have gained the victory, you have overcome 
these people, and their lands are yours ; we shall buy them 
of you. * * * * The warriors then delivered their mes- 
sage to the Chiefs, who have now sent us to let the Governor 
know that they are willing to proceed to a sale."J 

Mr. Smith, in the notes that we have frequently cited, does 
not make mention of the conference first related by Mr. 
Thomson, nor have we been able to find the source from 
whence he obtained it ; but we have no doubt it was au- 
thentic, for we do not know that it has ever been denied or 
controverted. However that may be, we are convinced that 

* The lands of the Susquehannah Indians, 2 Smitli's L. P. 112. 
t Gov. Keith in 1722, Smith, ibid. 
%Kx\ Inquiry &.C., p. 11. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 33 

it contributed not a little to the general opinion which con- 
nected the great treaty with the purchase of lands. But if 
we compare the two statements made by the Indians in 1722 
and 1727, we must be sure that they cannot both be true; 
for while Civility says, that William Penn purchased the Sus- 
quehannah lands of the Five Nations at New York on his first 
arrival forty years ago, which refers precisely to the year 
1682, and relates a long story about a large parchment roll 
containing the evidence of that purchase, Tanuexahannegah, 
on the contrary, affirms that those Indians refused to sell the 
lands at that time, but said they might do it at a future day. 
It is impossible to reconcile these two statements. 

The true history of this transaction is given us by Mr. 
Smith in his excellent notes above mentioned. It was on the 
second arrival of William Penn to this country, in 1699, that 
his friend and agent Colonal Dongan purchased the right of 
the Five Nations to the Susquehannah lands, and conveyed 
them to William Penn,* who obtained a confirmation of that 
purchase in 1701, as has been above mentioned. CiviHty, 
therefore, committed an error in point of date, and confound- 
ed the purchase in 1701 with William Penn's first arrival 
here in 1682. When the Proprietor came here for the first 
time, Colonel Dongan had not arrived at New York, of which 
he was appointed Governor to succeed Sir Edmund Andros, 
who had been recalled. Dongan received his appointment 
on the 20th September, 1682, (after William Penn's depar- 
ture,) and arrived at New York, Chalmers says, in October, 
Smith in August following. In the mean time the govern- 
ment was administered by one Brockholst,f of whom nothing 
is recorded, and with whom William Penn does not appear 



♦2 Smith's L. P. 111. 

f Some write his name Brockhurst, others Brockhoks; Chalmers writes it 
Brockoles. His real name was Brockhoht, 



34 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN'S 

to have had any acquaintance.* His was a mere temporary 
administration. 

We must then be convinced that the purchase of the Sus- 
quehannah lands, and the exhibition of the great roll of parch- 
ment, relate to the treaty of 1701, with which we have no- 
thing to do, our object being only the great treaty of 1(582, 
under the Elm Tree. We shall now proceed with the his- 
torians. 

Mr. Gordon, whose History of Pennsylvania has not 
been appreciated as it deserves, adopted Clarkson's relation 
in the text of that valuable book.f But subsequent inves- 
tigations made him change his opinion, and in a very in- 
teresting body of notes, subjoined to his work, he expresses 
his conviction that the great treaty was not connected with 
any land purchase. " For,*' says he, "several of these deeds 
(the deeds evidencing Indian purchases) if not all of them, 
have been given to us by Mr. Smith, in his excellent treatise 
on the land laws. He does not mention the treaty under the 
Elm, and the reason is, obviously, because it was unattended 
and unconnected with any deed, and no written memorial, 
other than the minutes of the conference had been taken."J 

Mr. Gordon, liowever, has not been able to get over the 
notion of the great parchment roll; for he says a little above§ 
that " the treaty, (the great treaty,) containing covenants of 
protection and kindness, was executed and delivered to the 
Indians, and was by them carefully preserved at least forty 
years before its exhibition to Governor Keith, and may pos- 
sibly be in the possession of their descendants." This is in 
direct contradiction with what the author says afterwards, 
that " no memorial of that treaty was preserved, other than 

* Chalmers, 584; Smith's History of New York, 58; Ebeling's New 
York, 54. 

t Gordon, 74, 75. 

4 Ibid. Append, note O, pp. 602 — 4. § p. 604. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 35 

the minutes of the conference." But it is evident that Mr. 
Gordon had Charles Thomson's relation and the speech of Ci- 
vility before his eyes, and was not aware that that Indian 
Chief had committed a mistake in point of date, which a 
closer investigation has enabled us to point out and to correct. 
The parchment roll exhibited to Governor Keith, had no 
connexion with the treaty of 1682. 

Ebeling is very cautious on this point. He says that Wil- 
liam Penn found means to acquire the favour of the Indians, 
not only by solemn conferences and treaties, but by friendly 
visits and conversations in their own language, assisting at 
their festivals, making them presents, &c.* He afterwards 
speaks of his purchasing lands of them, but takes care not 
to connect those transactions with treaties, in which he ap- 
pears to have been more cautions than most of those who 
preceded and followed him. 

Having now shown the various relations and opinions of the 
historians on the subject of this treaty, we shall take a view 
of the land purchases, in order to show that there is none, 
the memory of which has come down to us, which can by 
any fair reasoning be connected with the great treaty under 
the Elm Tree. We trust that we have so disposed of the 
Susquehannah purchase (which hitherto has been the stum- 
bling-block of our annalists and historian?,) as to afford the 
clearest conviction of its being entirely unconnected with that 
treaty. 

The first treatyf for the purchase of lands that we find on 
record, is that made by Markham in 1682, before the arrival 

• Ebeling's Pennsylvania, c. 3, see the translation in 1 Hazard's Register 
of Pennsylvania, p. 353. 

f Tile word treaty is used indiscriminately for every transaction with the 
Indians, whether it relate to amity and friendship, to tlie regulation of com- 
merce and general intercourse, to land purcliuses or even to conferences on 
any subject whatsoever. Hence has arisen much of the confusion and uncer- 
tainty which has so long prevailed respecting the great treaty. 



36 MEMOIR OF "WILLIAM PENn's 

of William Penn in this country. The deed of conveyance 
of the land purchased is dated on the 15th of July, and on it 
is endorsed a confirmation dated the 1st of August following. 
The substance of these deeds is given to us by Mr, Smith, in 
his notes above cited,* and a full copy from the original, 
which we have seen is in the possession of the President of 
the Society,! to whom it was sent by Redmond Conyngham, 
Esq. We would recommend the printing of these documents 
in our memoirs, as they may serve to illustrate historical 
facts. We have remarked that in this transaction, William 
Markham alone appears as acting for the proprietor, and that 
his commissioners, who must have been in the country at the 
time, take no part in it. They may, however, have been 
parties to the negotiation, though not to the deeds. 

The tract of land purchased is said by Gordon and by 
Smith to have been inconsideruhle,\ so that it could not have 
been the object of co?rfirmatio7i at the great treaty. Besides, 
the deeds show that it was paid for by Markham at the time 
of the purchase, and therefore the transaction was complete. 
It seems that pains had been taken to obtain the signatures 
of all those who claimed to be owners of the land. There- 
fore we may safely say that it had nothing to do with the 
treaty under the Elm Tree. 

The land thus purchased lies on the banks of the Dela- 
ware within the great bend of that river, between the falls 
opposite to Trenton and the Neshaminy. How far it ex- 
tended in the interior, the description does not enable us to 
say, as it refers to places the names of which have been long 
since forgotten. It was there that Markham fixed the dwell- 
ing place of the proprietor, which was called Pe?i?isbury Ma- 
nor. The house was begun to be built before William Penn 
arrived. 

It is very probable that William Penn had fixed upon that 

* 2 Smith's L. p. 109. 

f The late lamented William Rawle, Esq 

± Smith, 110. Gord.74, 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 37 

spot himself, and given instructions to Markham to purchase 
it for him for his residence, and that of the friends by whom 
he wished to be surrounded. It was opposite to the tiourish- 
ing settlement of the Quakers at BurUngton, and it is known 
that Quaker families had begun at that time to settle in num- 
bers on both sides of the river in that neighbourhood.* It 
was natural, therefore, that our great founder should wish to 
place himself in the vicinity of his co-religionists. It was a 
homestead for him that Markam was instructed to purchase. 
And there is reason to believe that it was intended to make it 
the seat of government.f 

William Penn arrived on the •24th of October, 1G82. It 
does not appear that any other purchase had been made for 
him at that time. Nor does he appear to have entered into 
a negotiation with the Indians for any purchase until six 
or seven months afterwards, that is to say, in May, 1G83, 
as we have already mentioned. This is very easy to under- 
stand. His first object on his arrival must have been to con- 
ciliate the favour of the natives, by friendly conferences, by 
mutual promises — in short, by treaties of amity and friend- 
ship. To have shown immediately an extraordinary avidity 
for their lands, would, ratlier than promote, have tended to 
defeat that most important object. 

He, then, waited until May, before he entered into a nego- 
tiation with them for that purpose. It was hardly begun,- 
when he was suddenly called away to a conference with Lord 
Baltimore. It was, therefore, interrupted ; so that the deed 
of his purchase is only dated in June.J The lands that he 

* Proud. Smith's New Jersey, &c. 

■j- Tlie venerable Samuel Preston, of Stockport, Wayne county, formerly 
of the county of Bucks, saw, many years ai^o, in tlie Surveyor General's office^ 
in Bucks county, an original draught of llie city, to be built at Pennsbury, of 
an oldcrdate than tlic plan by Holmes, and signed by Phincas Pemberton. — 
Barker's Discourse before the Penn Society, p. 30, in note, quotes Preston 
MS. 

i 23d June. 2 Smith, 110. 



88 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

purchased were contiguous to those acquired by Markham, 
and lay between the Neshaminy and the Pemmapeck, now 
Pennypack creek. He wished to draw his possessions nearer 
to his city of Philadelphia, the building of which had al- 
ready commenced, and was fast advancing. 

As this purchase is posterior to the year 1682, it can have 
no possible connexion with the great treaty, and in the inter- 
val between these two transactions, we not only find no re- 
cord, but no mention made any where of any other acquisi- 
tion from the Indians. We must necessarily believe there 
were none. We, of course, need not look further to subse- 
quent purchases, as they can have no relation to our sub- 
ject. 

It has been supposed that the great treaty under the Elm 
Tree might have been held for the purchase of the land on 
which Philadelphia now stands. This is a mere supposition, 
unsupported by any testimony. It deserves, however, to be 
considered. 

It must be recollected that at the time of the first arrival 
of William Penn, the country lying on the western banks of 
the river Delaware had been settled upon by Europeans for 
more than forty years. The successive governments who 
had possession of the territory, had purchased lands from the 
Indians, and granted them to individual settlers. The Swedes 
had their church at Wicacoa, and were chiefly settled in its 
vicinity. Their titles to the land they occupied, were of long 
standing ; they had been confirmed by the English Governors 
under the Duke of York, and were so afterwards by William 
Penn himself. They were respected by the Indians, who 
had been accustomed to live with those strangers, between 
whom and themselves perfect harmony existed. It was a 
romantic idea of those times, that the whites and the red 
men might live together like brothers on the same soil. The 
Indians believed it, because they had no conception of the 
exclusive possession of more land than one might usefully 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 39 

occupy, and even that they were much disposed to consider 
as common.* Hence, when WilHam Penn arrived, the In- 
dians and the whites Uved promiscuously together, the wig- 
wam rose by the side of the Christian's dwelling, and this 
accounts for what William Penn is said by Civility to have 
told the Susquehannah Indians, at the treaty of 1701, that 
they should hold the valley of Susquehannah i?i common, 
which no doubt William Penn at that time sincerely be- 
lieved, and, indeed, that state of things was well suited to a 
sparse population ; but as the numbers of the whites increased, 
its inconvenience was more and more felt, and a new order 
of things took place, which gradually drove the poor Indians 
from the land. 

It is a well authenticated fact, that William Penn pur- 
chased of the three Brothers Swanson,t in exchange for other 

" An anecdote is related by Heckewelder, which shows wliat were the 
notions of tlie Indians at that time in respect to property. " Some travel- 
ling Indians," says he, " having in the year 1777, put their horses over night 
to pasture in my little meadow, at Gnadenhutten, on the Muskingum, I 
called on them in the morning to learn why they had done so. I endeavoured 
to make them sensible of the injuiy they had done me, especially as I intended 
to mow in a day or two. Having finished my complaint, one of them replied : 
" My friend, it seems you lay claim to the grass my horses have eaten, because 
you had enclosed it with a fence : now tell me, who caused the grass to grow ? 
Can you make tlie grass grow ? I tliink not, and nobody can, except the great 
Manitto. He it is who causes it to grow, both for my horses and for yours! 
See, friend! the grass which grows out of the earth is common to all; the 
game in the woods is common to all. Say, did you never eat venison and 
bears' meat ?" " Yes, very often. " '* Well, and did you ever hear me or any 
other Indian complain about that ?" " No." " Then be not disturbed at my 
horses liaving only eaten once of what you call ?/owr grass, though the grass 
my horses did eat, in like manner as the meat you did eat, was given to the 
Indians by the Great Spirit. Besides, if you will but consider, you will find 
that my horse did not eat all your grass. For friendship's sake, however, I 
shall never put my horses in your meadow again." — Heckeweld. Manners 
and Customs of the Indians, in 1 Histor. Trans. A. P. S. p. 86. 

f The names of these three brothers were Andries (Andrew) Swen and 
Wolle Swenson, which has been converted into Swanson. Some writers 



40 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

lands, about 300 acres, in the place where it was judged most 
co7iveniefit that the city should be btnlt,'* whicli is the ground on 
which it now stands. Acrelius says, that it was 360 acres,! 
which may be true, including the usual allowance made for 
roads, &c. Now we calculate that this quantity of land would 
extend to a mile in length (say on the Delaware) and half a 
mile in breadth towards Schuylkill, which gives the whole 
length of the city proper, and a space in breadth, which was 
not all built upon for more than a century afterwards, and is 
not even now entirely covered with buildings. There was 
no need, therefore, of a purchase of this territory from the 
Indians. 

The ground on which the Liberties now stand, was also 
the property of the Swedes. We have reason to believe (hat 
at the time of the arrival of William Pcnn, the neck of land 
formed by the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill, 
and that at some distance above and below, was more thickly 
inhabited than any other part of the province, except, per- 
haps, the English settlements near the falls opposite Trenton, 
and those of the Dutch in the lower counties. This part of 
the country was called the freshes of Delaware, and was in- 
habited by the Swedes,J mixed with some English in the lat- 

say Swan's Sons; and Ebeling- liimself calls Uiem Swens Sceliner, butUiisis 
a mistake. In a map of Pennsylvania by John Tliornton and Robert Green, 
pubUsiicd in Eng-land before 1718, and dedicated to William Penn, then 
living, we find the land at Wicucoa marked as the property of these three 
brotliers. So that they had reserved that out of tlie sale ihey made to the 
proprietor. Tiiere is a street in Soulluvark still called by their name, 
Swannon Street. 

* See the Swedes' Petition to the House of Representatives of the Pro- 
vince of Pennsylvania — the Governor's letter thereupon to the Commission- 
ers of property, and their report in answer to the same. Philadelphia, 
printed by Andrew Bradford, at the Bible, in the Second street, 1722. 8 pp. 
folio. The Commissioners were Ricliard Hill, Isaac Norris, and James Lo- 
gan. [This document is in the possession of J. Francis Fisher-] 

t Acrel. 119. i 1 Cl.ivks. 309. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 41 

ter times. The Island of Tinicum, the seat of the Swedish 
government, is at no great distance from this city. It was 
natural that the Swedish settlers should fix their residence in 
its vicinity. Campanius informs us, that Passyunk was 
granted by Queen Christina to Capt. Swen Schute, in consi- 
deration of his services ;* and we find in the Swedish re- 
cords in the possession of the Philosophical Society, a royal 
grant to the same individual, dated in the year 1653, of 
Mockorhulhig Kill, Alharokungh, Aronametz Kill, (places 
the situation of which we cannot now discover) and also 
Kinsessing, which has preserved the same name to this day, 
and cannot have been far from the other places named. 

Of what took place under the Dutch Government we can 
say nothing, having had no access to their records ; but we 
find much information in the ample extracts from those of 
the court held at Upland, under the government of the Duke 
of York's representative at New York, between the years 
1676 and 1681, which are in the possession of this Society. 
They are full of applications to the local authorities for leave 
to take up lands for settlement in this part of the country, 
on the west side of the Delaware and east side of the Schuyl- 
kill ; and there are even suits against those who disturb the 
possession of the old settlers. There is a petition from Law- 
rence Cock and 23 others, for leave to build a town some- 
where below the falls. Lasse Andries and three others, in- 
habitants of Moyamensing, ask leave to take up each 25 
acres of marsh or meadow land in their neighbourhoods. In 
1678 Lawrence Cock acknowledges a deed in open court, 
by which he conveys to Elizabeth Kinsey 300 acres of land 
in Shackamaxon. 

All those lands had been purchased, either by the succes- 
sive governments or by the settlers themselves, who appear 
to have occasionally made purchases of the Indians. Each 

* Campan. N. Sweden, in 3d Mem. Hist. Soc. 80, 
6 



42 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

successive government claimed the right to confirm the title 
of the owners and give them new patents. The Governors 
under the Duke of York claimed and exercised that right, 
and William Penn and his successors did the same. 

Mr. Redmond Conyngham, in one of his interesting notes 
on the early history of Pennsylvania,* states that he received 
from E. C. Reigart, Esq. a member of the House of Represen- 
tatives of this state, the following information: 

" I find," (says Mr. Reigart) " a treaty made on the 15th of 
June, 1682, at the house of Capt. Lasse (Lawrence) Cock, 
for land on the Delaware, extending westward a considera- 
ble distance ; beginning at a white oak on land in the tenure 
of John Wood, and by him called Grey Stones. The Indians 
were of the Delaware nation. Capt. Lasse Cock resided at 
Shackamaxon." 

Mr. Conyngham adds that he sent a copy of that treaty to 
William Rawle, Esq. the President of this Society. We 
have seen that copy, which is no other than the deed of con- 
veyance by certain chiefs of the Delaware nation to William 
Penn, through his agent Markham, for the Pennsbury tract 
of land in Bucks county, which we have already mentioned, 
the substance of which is given in Mr. Smith's note on the 
Land Laws of Pennsylvania.! It is dated the 15th Juhj, (not 
June) 1682; but no mention is made there of the house of 
Capt. Lasse Cock, nor is it said where the treaty or confer- 
ence was held, or the conveyance executed. Mr. Reigart 
may have found what he states in some loose minutes that 
we have not seen. 

Mr. Conyngham proceeds, on what authority we know not, 
and says : that in consequence of the heat and number of 
persons whom the house could not accommodate, the Indian 
conference was held under the Elm Tree, and the treaty 
signed at the house of Capt. Lasse or Lacy Cock. We pre- 

• 15 Hazard's Register, 139. f 2 Smith's L. P. 109. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 43 

sume it is his own conjecture, in which he falls into the com- 
mon error of calling by the name of treaty the deed of convey- 
ance for the lands sold. That the deed in this, and we be- 
lieve, in every other case, was executed in a house, for the 
sake of convenience, we have not the least doubt, and if Mr. 
Reigart has had good authority for saying that in that case it 
was done at the house of Lawrence or Lasse Cock, as he was 
called, it corroborates our statement that the land in the 
vicinity of Philadelphia, above and below, was held and oc- 
cupied by the Swedes. Nothing is more pi'obable than that 
that conveyance was executed at the house of Lawrence 
Cock, and the conference held at Shackamaxon under the 
Elm Tree, and perhaps other trees that stood on the same 
spot. It accounts also for the subsequent treaties, that with 
William Pcnn after his first arrival, and that made in 1701, 
having been held in the same place, which, if we refer to its 
etymology, appears to have been a spot long before appro- 
priated to such solemnities. 

Mr. Heckewelder says that the name of this place, written 
as we now do Shackamaxon, signifies the place of eels, from 
Schachamek, the Indian name of that fish.* We have nothing 
to say against this etymology, if the first syllable of the word 
is to be pronounced with Sh or Sch. But when we turn to an- 
cient records, which did not come to the knowledge of Mr. 
Heckewelder, we find it written with a single S, thus: Sacha- 
mexitig or Sachcmexing. This makes an important difference. 
The word Sakima, which we write and pronounce Sachem, 
means in the Delaware language a King or Chief; ing, is the 
Indian termination which indicates locality, or the place where. 
Thus Sakimaxing may be naturally explained by the place 
where the Chiefs meet or resort (for holding conferences or 
treaties.) The x before the syllable i?ig is there for euphony's 
sake, as s in Mr. Heckwelder's etymology. The introduc- 

* 4 Trans. A. P. S. new series, 356. 



Justices. 



44 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PEIVN'S 

tion of euphonic consonants is very frequent in the com- 
position of Indian words. 

This opinion of ours is strengthened by an entry that we 
find in the records of the local government at Upland, under 
the Duke of York, from which we extract what follows : 

*' At a meeting of the Commander and Justices at Upland, 
upon the news of the Simeco Indians coming down to fetch 
the Susquehanno that were among these River Indians, &,c, 
"March the 13th. Annoq. Dom. 167f 

Capt. John Collier, Commander. 
Mr. John Moll, 
Mr. Peter Cock, 
Mr. Peter Rambo, 
Mr. Israel Helm, 
Mr. Lace An dries, 
Mr. Otto Ernest Cock,^ 
" It was concluded upon the motions of Rinowehan, the In- 
dian Sachomore, for the most quiet of the river, viz : 

" That Captain Collier and Justice Israel Helm, go up to 
SacJiamexin, (whereat present a great number of Simico and 
other Indians are) and that they endeavour to persuade the 
Simicos, the Susquehannas and these River Indians, to send 
each a Sachomore or Deputy to his Honour the Governor at 
New York, and that Justice Israel Helm go with them, for 
to hear and receive his said Honour's resolutions and answer 
to their demands." 

This shows Shackamaxon to have been a place of resort 
for the Indians of different Nations, no doubt to consult to- 
gether and settle their mutual concerns, and while it comes 
in aid of our etymology of that name, it accounts for its 
having been chosen byMarkham and William Penn aftevhim, 
as the place for holding their successive treaties. It adds 
also no little importance to the locality of the great treaty 
under the Elm Tree, 

We think, then, that there is no ground for saying that 



TREATY WITH THE I^DIA^S. 45 

the great treaty was made for the purchase of the soil on 
which Philadelphia now stands, which must long before have 
ceased to be claimed by the neighbouring Indians. Had there 
been a necessity for that purchase, William Penn would not 
have omitted to make it, and the deed of conveyance for it 
would be found amongst our records as well as that for the 
purchase of Pennsbury Manor made by Markham. The 
founder would not surely have built his great city of Phila- 
delphia, in the face of Indian claimants, if he had not been 
certain that his title to the ground was not in any manner 
liable to be contested. 

If we have satisfactorily proved, or at least shown it to be 
highly probable, that the great treaty was unconnected with 
the purchase of lands, it remains for us to show what that 
treaty was, when and with what tribes it was made, and 
what were the mutual engagements entered into by the con- 
tracting parties. We think it was nothing else than a treaty 
of amity and friendship, which William Penn on his arrival 
thought it necessary to make, to conciliate the favour of the 
Indian Nations. It is also our opinion that a similar treaty 
was made by Markham and the commissioners before Penn's 
arrival, at the same place, of which this was a solemn con- 
firmation. We believe so, because the commissioners were 
expressly instructed to make such a treaty, and because the 
Historians agree in representing the great treaty as the con- 
firmation of a former one, which could be no other than that 
made with the commissioners. It appears from Mr. Rcigart's 
information that the deed for Pennsbury Manor was executed 
at Shackamaxon, at the house of Lawrence Cock. The 
treaty of friendship probably preceded the negotiation for 
that purchase, but cannot have been connected with it, be- 
cause the purchase was made only from the Delawares and 
River Indians, as they were called, but it appears that other 
nations and tribes were parties to the treaty of friendship. 
And as Shackamaxon appears to have been a place of usual 



46 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PE\n's 

resort for the Indian Chiefs, the probability is that this treaty 
and the confirmation of it by WiUiam Penn were made at 
the same place. 

These treaties of friendship with the Indians, unconnected 
with land purchases, are not without examples in history. 
We have shown that before the arrival of William Penn, 
such a treaty took place between the natives and the Qua- 
ker inhabitants of Burlington. We have shown from Cam- 
panius that a similar one was made by the Swedish Governor 
Rising. And in our later annals we find a treaty made at 
Conestogo in July 1721* between Governor Keith and the 
Five Nations, who had sent a Deputation to meet him there, 
in which there is not the least mention made of the purchase 
of lands ; but, except some trifling complaints of the Indians, 
as for instance, that some of the English traders had called 
their young men dogs, the whole treaty consists of mutual 
assurances and promises of friendship and friendly inter- 
course between the contracting parties. The Governor also 
exhorts them not to go to war with other Indians, as they 
intended. 

The treaty is too long to be inserted here, besides that, it 
can be found at large in Proud's History, but a few lines from 
one of the speeches of Governor Keith, will give an idea of 
its character : 

" You are in league with New York, as your ancient friends 
and nearest neighbours ; and you are in league with ?ts, by 
treaties often repeated, and by a chain, which you have now 
brightened. As therefore all the English are but one people, 
you are actually in league with all the English governments, 
and must equally preserve the peace with all, as with one 
governmenf't 

We cannot refrain from adding here some part of what 
was said by the Indian Chiefs ; we give it in the words of the 

• 2 Proud, 1.S9. f Ibid. 138. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 47 

minutes of council from which the treaty was taken, which 
Froud has faithfully copied. 

" They, (the Indians) assured the Governor that they had 
not forgot William Penn's treaties with them, and that his ad- 
vice to them was still fresh in their memories. Though they 
cannot write, yet they retain every thing said in their coun- 
cils with all the nations they treat with, and preserve it as 
carefully in their memories, as if it was committed, in our 
method to writing."* 

It is much to be regretted, that the minutes of the great 
treaty and of that made with the commissioners have not 
been preserved, or if they have, are not at present to be 
found. We must therefore be contented to gather its con- 
tents from the best sources in our power. 

We believe Mr. Clarkson's account of William Penn's ad- 
dress to the Indians at the great treaty, to be as near to the 
truth as any that is founded merely upon tradition. We, 
therefore, shall begin with inserting it. 

" The Great Spirit" (said William Penn) "who- made him 
and them, who ruled the Heaven and the Earth, and who 
knew the innermost thoughts of man, knew that he and his 
friends had a hearty desire to live in peace and friendship 
with them, and to serve them to the utmost of their power. 
It was not their custom to use hostile weapons against their 
fellow creatures, for which reason they had come unarmed. 
Their object was not to do injury, and thus provoke the Great 
Spirit, but to do good. They were then met on the broad 
pathway of good faith and good will, so that no advantage 
was to be taken on either side, but all was to be openness, 
brotherhood, and love. After these and other words, he un- 
rolled the parchment, and by means of the interpreter con- 
veyed to them, article by article, the conditions of purchase, 
and the words of the compact then made for their eternal 

♦ 2 Proud, 132. 



48 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FENN's 

union. Among other things, they were not to be molested 
in their lawful pursuits even in the territory they had alien- 
ated, for it was to be common to them and the English. They 
were to have the same liberty to do all things therein re- 
lating to the improvement of their grounds, and providing sus- 
tenance for their families, which the English had. If any 
disputes should arise between the two, they should be settled 
by twelve persons, half of whom should be English and half 
Indians. He then paid them for the land, and made them 
many presents besides from the merchandise which had 
been spread before them. Having done this, he laid the roll 
of parchment on the ground observing again, that the ground 
should be common to both people. He then added, that he 
would not do as the Marylanders did, that is, call them chil- 
dren or brothers only ; for often parents were apt to whip 
their children too severely, and brothers sometimes would dif- 
fer ; neither would he compare the friendship between him 
and them to a chain, for the rain might sometimes rust it, or 
a tree might fall and break it ; but he should consider them 
as the same flesh and blood with the Christians, and the same, 
as if one man's body were to be divided in two parts. He then 
took up the parchment, and presented it to the Sachem who 
wore the horn in the chaplet, and desired him and the other 
Sachems to preserve it carefully for three generations, that 
their children might know what had passed between them, 
just as if he had remained himself with them to repeat it." 

There is a great deal in this recital that bears internal evi- 
dence of truth, although we do not coincide with the writer 
in every thing that it contains. We reject, particularly, all 
that connects this transaction with the purchase of lands, for 
the reasons that we have already explained. The roll of 
parchment which makes so great a figure in this relation 
may have been the concessions or conditions, agreed upon in 
England between William Penn and his associates, which he 
had expressly directed his commissioners to read and explain 
to the Indians on treating with them, and which it is natural 



TREATV WITH THE INDIANS. 49 

to suppose he communicated to them himself, in order to show 
them in what spirit the friends were migrating to this coun- 
try ; his dehvering it, however, to the Sachem to be pre- 
served, we cannot bring ourselves to believe, as it was not 
natural that he should part with that document. The parch- 
ment, besides, according to Mr. Clarkson, contained the arti- 
cles of their treaty of friendship, of which we shall presently 
speak, and it would have been strange to mix these with an 
agreement for the purchase of lands, which, if there were 
not two counterparts, ought rather to have remained in the 
possession of the purchaser, than in that of the sellers. We, 
therefore, entirely disagree on these points from what Mr. 
Clarkson relates. 

But as to the words which he puts in the mouth of the 
founder, we think they contain a great deal of what we must 
believe him to have actually said. It was natural that he should 
explain to the Indians the principles of the society of Friends, 
on the subject of bearing arms, and we may well suppose 
that he began his speech as Mr. Clark relates. Also that he 
should tell them, that the land which they had sold, or should 
sell to the whites, was to be held in common between them, 
and that both nations should be at liberty to occupy it for 
their lawful purposes. It is entirely in accordance with what 
we have said of the opinions of the Indians respecting pro- 
perty; and that this language was held by the proprietor, is 
fully ascertained by the speeches of the Governors of the 
colony, and those of the Indians in subsequent treaties. 

What William Penn said, of the manner in which the Ma- 
rylanders treated the Indians, was well calculated to estrange 
them from the people and government of that colony. Mr. 
Conyngham would have it, that he spoke not of the Mary- 
landers, but of the Virginians ;* because he supposes that the 
Mingoes who lived on the Susquehannah, and who there is 

• IS Hazard's Register, 139. 
7 



50 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

reason to believe, were parties to that ti'eaty, had then lately 
migrated from Virginia, in consequence of some persecutions 
which they had experienced there. But we think we have 
sufficiently shown that those Indians had long resided in that 
part of the country, and besides, as the proprietor of Maryland, 
Lord Baltimore, claimed, if not the whole, at least a conside- 
rable part of the territory they occupied, it was quite na- 
tural that William Penn, who was with him on no very 
friendly terms, should speak of him and his people with some 
degree of asperity. 

Mr. Clarkson says, that William Penn read to the Indians 
from the roll of parchment article by article, what he calls 
the conditiofis of the purchase. That the stipulations of the 
treaty were expressed in the form of successive articles, is a 
fact which cannot now admit of doubt, as we have it in our 
power to prove it by satisfactory evidence. At a treaty held 
at Conestogo, on the 26th of May, 1728, between Governor 
Gordon, and the chiefs of several nations of Indians, who 
then resided on the Susquehannah, the Governor in his ad- 
dress spoke to them as follows: 

" My Brethren ! You have been faithful to your leagues 
with us ! * * * * * Your leagues with William Penn, and 
his Governors are in zvriti??g on record, that our children and 
our children's children may have them in everlasting remem- 
brance. And we know that you preserve the memory of 
those things amongst you, by telling them to your children, 
and they again to the next generation; so that they remain 
stamped on your minds, never to be forgot. The chief heads 
or strongest links of this chain, I find are these nine, to wit; 

Art. 1st. That all William Penn's people or Christians, and 
all the Indians should be brethren, as the children of one 
father, joined together as with one heart, one head, and 
one body. 

2nd. That all paths should be open and free to both Chris- 
tians and Indians. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIAXS. 51 

3rd. That the Doors of the Christians' houses should be 
open to the Indians, and the houses of the Indians open to 
the Christians, and that they should make each other welcome 
as their friends. 

4th. That the Christians should not believe any false ru- 
mours or reports of the Indians, nor the Indians believe any 
such rumours or reports of the Christians, but should first 
come as brethren to inquire of each other; and that both 
Christians and Indians, when they have any such false re- 
ports of their brethren, they should bury them as in a bot- 
tomless pit. 

5th. That if the Christians heard any ill-news, that may be 
to the hurt of the Indians, or the Indians hear any such ill- 
news, that may be to the injury of the Christians, they should 
acquaint each other with it speedily, as true friends and 
brethren. 

Glh. That the Indians should do no manner of harm to 
the Christians, nor to their Creatures, nor the Christians do 
any hurt to the Indians, but each treat the other as brethren. 

7th. But as there are wicked people in all nations, if either 
Indians or Christians should do any harm to each other, 
complaint should be made of it by the persons suifering, that 
right might be done, and when satisfaction is made, the in- 
jury or wrong should be forgot, and be buried as in a bottom- 
less pit. 

8th. That the Indians should in all things assist the Chris- 
tians, and the Christians assist the Indians against all wicked 
people that would disturb them. 

9th. And lastly, that both Christians and Indians should ac- 
quaint their children with this league and firm chain of friend- 
ship made between them, and that it should always be made 
stronger and stronger, and be kept bright and clean without 
rust or spot, between our children and children's children 
while the Creeks and Rivers run, and while the Sun, Moon 
and Stars endure. 



52 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

This is the only authentic account that we possess of the 
stipulations of the great treaty, and we are by no means sa- 
tistied with it. It appears to us to have been mutilated, as it 
contains but very general promises of hospitahty, kindness 
and good neighbourhood, between the Indians and whites; 
we do not find in it the engagement mentioned in Mr. Clark- 
son's relation, and confirmed by the speech of Civility to Go- 
vernor Keith, nor the answer to the latter, that the lands 
should be held in common between the two nations, nor, as Mr. 
Clarkson, relates that the Indians and the whites should have 
the same liberty to do all things relating to the improvement 
of their grounds, and providing sustenance for their families ; 
this last covenant is vaguely and obscurely expressed by the 
second article " that all paths shall be open and free to both 
Christians and Indians." This we have no doubt was ex- 
plained by the founder, otherwise than by an Indian meta- 
phor, which in our language may receive any interpretation. 
Indeed Governor Gordon does not pretend that the nine arti- 
cles contain all the covenants between William Penn and the 
Indians ; he only says they are the principal ones. It is much 
to be regretted that he did not give the whole; but as he did 
not choose to do so, we are obliged to make up the deficiency 
from other sources, which we think may be done by taking 
together these nine articles, with the conference between 
Civility and Governor Keith, and Mr. Clarkson's relation, from 
all which we may obtain a pretty correct idea of the stipu- 
lations of the great treaty. 

The most important part of the speech of Governor Gordon, 
is his acknowledgment that the leagues, as he calls them, be- 
tween the Governors of Pennsylvania, and the Indians, are 
in vjritivg on record. What has become of those records? 
They are not to be found in the minutes of the Provincial 
Council at Harrisburg ; yet we know they have existed, and 
the question recurs, where are they? 

It has been suggested, that the last Provincial Governors, 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 53 

on leaving Pennsylvania, have carried with them a great 
number of valuable records: we believe this to be a base 
and unfounded calumny, and the best proof we can give 
of it, is that several valuable documents, which, under the 
Colonial government must have made part of the public ar- 
chives, have been found here in private hands, and there can 
be no doubt but that much dilapidation did take place, on the 
change of government, and at the frequent removals of the state 
authorities. It is possible, however, that the proprietary fa- 
mily may have retained some papers, which they thought in- 
teresting only to themselves, as evidences of the noble conduct 
and admirable life of their great ancestor: if such should be 
the case, we have no doubt that our venerated friend and 
philanthropist Granville Penn, Esq.* will freely communi- 
cate those documents to this society, whose views and feel- 
ings he well knows to be congenial with his own. 

The point that we have found the most difficult to settle in 
the course of this investigation, is the precise date of the great 
Treaty ; and we are by no means certain that we have suc- 
ceeded in discovering it ; certainly not to a day, or even a 
week. We will, however, freely communicate the result of our 
researches. 

The ambiguity of the language of Mr. Proud, of which we 
have above taken notice, has induced a general belief that 
this treaty was made after the return of William Penn from 
his visit to Lord Baltimore. But we have many reasons that 
induce us to believe that the treaty was made before that pe- 
riod. When William Penn came here, he had six objects 
principally in view, and to which his first attention was to be 
directed. They were — 

1. To organize his Government. 

• Mr. Penn is the only surviving- grandson of our illustrious founder. He 
bears a name not surpassed by any in the British peerage, which that name 
would grace, if the British nobility understood their true interest. 



54 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

2. To visit his co-religionists on the shores of the Delaware 
in Pennsyh^ania and New Jersey. 

3. To conciliate the Indians. 

4. To pay his respects to the Governor of New York, who 
had had the command over Pennsylvania. 

5. To fix upon a proper spot to build Jiis capital city. 

G. To visit Lord Baltimore, with whom he had differences 
respecting the limits of his province. 

It is to be remarked, and much to the honour of our great 
Founder, that if the treaty took place before his jom'ney to 
Baltimore, he accomplished all these things in little more than 
two months ; for in January, he had been at New York and 
Maryland ; had visited his friends on the way ; he had oi'ga- 
nized his Government and held an Assembly at Chester, and 
his city of Philadelphia was located, and buildings begun to 
be erected upon it. This is a trait of his character that well 
deserves to be noticed. 

Among those objects, that of conciliating the Indians was 
by no means the least important ; and it is not to be pre- 
sumed that William Penn postponed it to the last. For, after 
his return from Maryland, every thing else was done that we 
have mentioned. He had organized his Government at Ches- 
ter, in December ; he had before that visited New York and 
New Jersey, and on the way, no doubt, his friends on the De- 
laware; he had fixed upon the site of his new city, and had 
it located and surveyed : in short, all that remained was to 
treat with the Indians, and it would have been bad policy in 
him to have neglected them to the last moment. We can- 
not, therefore, suppose that he did so. 

Another reason is, that on his return from Maryland, the 
winter had already set in, and it was a bad season to hold a 
treaty in the open air. If he could have done otherwise, he 
would not surely have chosen it. Now, he tells us himself 
that he met Lord Baltimore at West River, on the 19th of 
December. We learn from other sources, that after a con- 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 55 

ference of three days, Lord Baltimore accompanied him on 
a visit to different parts of Maryland, and particularly to 
Choptank, on the other side of the Bay, where there was a 
meeting of the principal persons in the colony. All this must 
have taken time, and we do not find him returned to Chester, 
until the 29th of that month, which we learn by a letter 
which he wrote from thence to a friend under that date. The 
treaty, then, according to that supposition, must have been 
held in January, too late in the season, we should think, if it 
could have been done before. It is true that he describes 
that winter as pleasant, when compared with the same sea- 
son in England. With that comparison we have nothing to 
do, but at the same time he says that it was the coldest win- 
ter that was known in this country within the memory of the 
oldest settlers,* which must carry us back to a period of at 
least forty years. The cold must have been, therefore, very 
intense, and the season not very eligible for Iiolding a treaty 
in the open air, on tiie banks of the Delaware, under an Elm 
tree. 

Mr. Gordon, in one of the notes to his history of Pennsyl- 
vania, f states " that the Indians, at a conference with Gover- 
nor Keith, in 1722, exhibited the roll of parchment contain- 
ing the Treaty, (meaning the great Treaty of 1C82;J) and it 
would seem, continues he, that a copy of the conference, at 
least, held at the making of this treaty, was once in the of- 
fice of the Secretary of this Commonwealth, since Mr. R. 
Conyngham assures us that he discovered an envelope in a 

* For the seasons of the year, having-, by God's g-oodness, now lived over 
the coldest and hottest that the oldest liver in the province can remember, I 
can say something- to an English understanding. Letter to the free society of 
traders, in 1 Proud, 248, and 1 Clarkson, 294. 

■j- Gordon, 603. 

if And yet Mr. Gordon, in the same note, page 604, gives it as his opinion; 
(in which we ag-ree with him) "that there was no deed or memorial of the 
great Treaty, except the minutes of the conference." So difficult it is to 
give up entirely old and inveterate prejudices. 



56 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

bundle of papers there, relating to the Shawanese Indians, 
with the following endorsement : " Minutes of the Indian Con- 
ference in relation to the great Treaty made with William 
Penn, at the Big Tree, Shackamaxon, on the fourteenth of 
the tenth month, 1682." 

We have written to Mr. Conyngham to obtain from him 
more particular information upon the subject, and here is his 
answer, dated the 12th of March last: 

" The endorsement on the envelope which you found in 
page 603, of Gordon's History of Pennsylvania, is a faithful 
copy of the original (1 believe) at Harrisburg. I made some 
inquiry as to the circumstance of its being thus found in the 
closet, and received the following information. Some years 
since, the Indian treaties were transcribed in a book for their 
better preservation, and this envelope of one of them was 
carefully folded up, and placed in the closet with the histori- 
cal papers. The Indian treaty said to have been contained 
in this envelope, is dried June 15th, 1682, and was the result 
of a conference held imder the Elm tree at Shackamaxon, 
between William Markham, the commissioners of William 
Penn (William Crispin, John Bezar and Nathaniel Allen) and 
the Shackamaxine tribes of Indians. The treaty was in the 
open air, but signed* in Capt. Lassee Cocke's house, fronting 
the Delaware, in Shackamaxon. The land granted was to 
begin at a white oak, on the ground in the tenure of John 
Wood, called by him Grey Stones.t The minutes of the con- 
ference in June, and also those of the conference in Decem- 
ber, 1682, are not to be found." 

From the facts above stated, Mr. Conyngham has con- 
cluded that the great Treaty was held on the 14th of De- 
cember, 1682, and others have shared in his opinion. We 

• This, we presume, was the language of the clerks at Harrisburg, but it 
can mean nothing else than that the deed for the lands was executed at the 
house of Lassee Cocke, which is very probable. 

■f This is the description of the Pennsbury tract, and therefore must refer 
to Markham's purchase. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 57 

would not object to that date, if it was not proved by Wil- 
liam Penn himself to be impossible. In his letter to the Lords 
of plantations above cited,* he tells us that the 19th of De- 
cember was the day agreed upon between him and Lord Bal- 
timore for their meeting at West river, on the western shore 
of Maryland. In the same letter, almost in the same breath, 
he says — " The elevetit/i of the month I came to West river, 
where I met the Proprietor, attended suitably to his charac- 
ter."! This at first appears contradictory, but it may be 
easily reconciled by supposing that William Penn, who wrote 
a great deal, and was not very particular in the selection of 
his words, made use of the word came instead oi^went or set out 
for, a grammatical error not uncommon among fast speakers 
and fast writers. West river, twelve miles below Annapolis, 
lies at a considerable distance from Philadelphia, and the jour- 
ney must have been performed by water as well as by land. 
It is natural to suppose, that anxious to be at the appointed place 
on the 19th, the day agreed upon, and considering the season, 
the uncertainty of the winds, the badness of the roads, and all 
the circumstances that might have impeded his progress, he 
chose to set out with his retinue in sufficient time to meet 
and overcome all the impediments that he might find on the 
road, and a week was not too long a time for that purpose. 
If, as he tells us, he left Philadelphia on the 11th, he must 
have been on the 14th on his way to Maryland, and could 
not have been at Shackamaxon to treat with the Indians- 
We must, therefore, reject that date, the envelope notwith- 
standing. 

We, then, consider ourselves at liberty to fix the epoch 
of the great treaty, at such time as we shall think most con- 
sistent with probability, and we believe that to be on his re- 
turn from New York, about the latter end of November. The 
season was then beautiful, as is generally the fall season in 

* See above page. f 1 Proud, 268. 



68 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM PENN's 

our country. His journey lasted about a month, and he had 
sufficient time to go to New York and Long Island, visit his 
friends on the way in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and 
treat with the Indians on his return. On his departure from 
New Castle, his friend Markham had full time to give notice 
to the chiefs to meet him at Shackamaxon ; in short, by adopt- 
ing this period, we find ourselves free from the objections that 
meet us at every step in choosing any other. It is possible 
that documents may yet be discovered, which will induce us 
to alter this opinion ; but until then we do not think that we 
can offer a better. 

As to the Indian tribes that met William Penn, at this 
famous treaty, our opinion is that they were those called the 
River Indians, chiefly if not all, of the Lenni Lenape or Dela- 
ware stock. To these must be added the Mingoes and other 
Susquehannah tribes, who came to solicit his protection : they 
must have formed, together, a very respectable assemblage. 

Of the ceremonies of the treaty, we have a full and very 
satisfactory account by William Penn himself, in his letter to 
the free traders,* leaving out only what relates to the pur- 
chase of lands. It is the form in which the Indians hold their 
most solemn treaties and conferences. The same is also de- 
scribed by Campanius, and by other writers. 

It will be in vain to look for a record of this Treaty and 
of the stipulations that it contained, elsewhere than in the 
minutes of that conference, if ever they should chance to be 
discovered. It is certain that they have existed, and that 
they were in the possession of Governor Gordon in 1728, 
otherwise, he could not have cited from them literally nine 
articles, which it is impossible not to believe to have been a 
jpart of the great Treaty. 

But no one must expect ever to see a parchment roll signed 
smd executed by all the parties. It was not the way in which 

* 1 Proud, 25,7. 1 Clarks. 305. 



TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 59 

treaties were made at that time, or at any time with the In- 
dians. They could neither read nor write ; they trusted to 
our records and their own strong retentive memories, assisted 
by means pecuHar to them. We regret that we cannot make 
a more splendid display on this occasion. We leave that to 
the painter and to the poet, who, no doubt, will for a long 
time hereafter employ their pencil and their pen to this noble 
theme. We hope that the memory of the great Treaty, and 
of our illustrious Founder, will remain engraved on the me- 
mory of our children and our children's children to the end 
of time. 



APPE]>^DIX. 



At a CoUPfCIL HELD AT THE InDIAN ToWN CoNESTOGOE, 

Mmj 26th, 1728. 

Present, 

The Honourable Patrick Gordon, Esq. Lieutenant Governor, 

Some Members of Council, and divers other Gentlemen. 

Present also, 

Ganyatarouga, 
Jawenna, 

Janneatcheare, ychiefs of the Conestogo Indians. 

Iaquatarensaly, alias 
Captain Civility, 



Aholykon, 
Peayeashickon, 

WlKIMIKYOUA, 

Itowickyoma, 



1 



L Chiefs of some of the Delaware 
I Indians on Brandywine. 



Skayauannego, 
Onneygheat, 
Nanamakamen, 
Peayhishinas, 



>Chiefs of the Ganawiss Indians. 



Weysow Walow, 
Keyseykakalow, 

NlCHTAMSKAKOW, 



1 



^Chiefs of the Sawanese. 



J 



APPENDIX. 61 

C Or some Interpreter from the English 
Shakawtawlin, ^ into the Delaware. 

r Interpreter from the Delaware into 
Captain Civility, ^ the Shawanese and Mingoe, (alias 

Conestogoe.) 



i 



{Interpreter from the Delaware into 
the Ganawese Language. 



Pomapuhtoa, 

Mr. Nicholas Scull, 

Mr. John Scull, 

Mr. Peter Bizallion. 



The Governor spoke as follows : 
My Friends and Brethren, 
You are sensible that the Great William Penn, the Father of 
this country, when he first brought the People with him over the 
Broad Sea, took all the Indians, the old Inhabitants, by the 
hand, and because he found them to be a sincere honest People, 
he took them to his heart, and loved them as his own. He then 
made a strong League and Chain of Friendship with them, by 
which it was agreed that the Indians and the English, with all 
the Christians, should be as one people. 

Your Friend and Father William Penn, still retained a warm 
affection for all the Indians, and strictly commanded those whom 
he sent to govern this people, to treat the Indians as his children, 
and continued in this kind love for them until his death. 

His Sons have now sent me over in their stead, and they gave 
me strict charge to love all the Indians as their Brethren, and as 
their Father. William Penn loved you. I would have seen you 
before this time, but I fell sick soon after I came over and con- 
tinued so till the next Spring. I have waited to receive some of 
the Five Nations, who came to see me at Philadelphia, and last 
fall heard you were all gone out a hunting. 

I am now come to see you, and renew the ancient friendship. 



62 APPENDIX. 

which has been between William Penn's people and you. I was 
in hopes that Sassoonan and Opekasset with their people, would 
have been likewise here: they have sent me kind messages, and 
have a warm love for the Christians. I believe they will come to 
me at Philadelphia; for since they could not get hither I have de- 
sired them to meet me there. 

I am now to discourse with my Brethren, the Conestogoes, 
Delawares, Ganawese, and Shawanese Indians upon the Susque- 
hannah, and to speak to them. 

My Brethren, 

You have been faithful to your leagues with us, your hearts 
have been clean, and you have preserved the chain from spots 
or rust, or if there were any, you have been careful to wipe them 
away; your leagues with your Father William Penn, and with 
his Governors, are in writing on record, that our children and 
our children's children may have them in everlasting remem- 
brance. And we know that you preserve the memory of those 
things amongst you, by telling them to your children, and they 
again to the next generations, so that they remain stamped on 
your minds never to be forgot. 

The chief heads or strongest links of this chain, I find are these 
nine, viz: 

1st. That all William Penn's people or Christians, and all the 
Indians should be Brethren, as the children of one Father, joined 
to^-ether as with one Heart, one Head, and one Body. 

Qd. That all Paths should be open and free to both Christians 
and Indians. 

Sd. That the Doors of the Christians' Houses should be open 
to the Indians, and the Houses of the Indians open to the Chris- 
tians, and that they should make each other welcome as their 
Friends. 

4th. That the Christians should not believe any false rumours 
or reports of the Indians, nor the Indians believe any such ru- 
mours or reports of Christians, but should first come as Brethren 
to inquire of each other ; and that both Christians and Indians, 
when they have any such false Reports of their Brethren, they 
should bury them as in a bottomless pit. 



APPENDIX. 03 

5th. That if the Christians heard any ill news, that may be to 
the hurt of the Indians, or the Indians hear any such ill news, 
that may be to the injury of the Christians, they should acquaint 
each other with it speedily, as true Fiiends and Brethren. 

Qth. That the Indians should do no manner of harm to the 
Christians, nor to their creatures, nor the Christians do any hurt 
to the Indians, but each treat the other as Brethren. 

7th. But as there are wicked people in all nations, if either 
Indians or Christians should do any harm to each other, complaint 
should be made of it by the persons suftering, that right may be 
done, and when satisfaction is made, the injury or wrong should 
be forgot, and be buried as in a bottomless pit. 

9>th. That the Indians should in all things assist the Christians, 
and the Christians assist the Indians against all wicked people 
that would disturb them. 

^th. And lastly, that both Christians and Indians should ac- 
quaint their Children with this league and firm chain of friend- 
ship made between them, and that it should always be made 
stronger and stronger, and be kept bright and clean without rust 
or spot, between our children and children's children, while the 
Creeks and Rivers run, and while the Sun, Moon and Stars en- 
dure. 

And for the confirmation on our parts of all these several arti- 
cles, we bind them with these several parcels of goods, viz: 

20 Strowd Match Coats, 1 cwt. Gun Powder, 

20 Dufiells, 2 cwt. of Lead, 

20 Blankets, 500 Flints, 

20 Shirts, 50 Knives. 



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